Cosmopolitan India – August 2019

92 COSMOPOLITAN AUGUST 2019 FOR MORE GREAT STORIES, VISIT COSMO.IN

11%

Looking at

or Liking a

particular

hot model’s

Instagram

posts

13%

DM’ing a

celebrity

crush

17%

Watching

an ex’s or a

crush’s Insta

Stories

18%

Posting thirst

traps/lots of

sexy selfies

73%

Liking or

commenting

on an ex’s

posts (if

the ex isn’t

a platonic

friend)

84%

Snapchatting

cute pics to a

hot co-worker

86%

Complaining

about your

current

relationship

to a potential

romantic

prospect via

texts

Eh

,^

ok

ay

SHADY

SOCIAL

MEDIA

MOVES

RANKED

We polled

you, Cosmo

readers,

on which

micro-

cheating (aka

nonphysical

infidelity)

moves are

the absolute

worst.

Stealthy, sure—but

tech can also help you

play detective when

you need to. Enjoy

these satisfying

stories of women

exposing the truth.

Caught in

the Act

Before you try to convince

boo to run away with you to a

tropical island with zero WiFi

or sex robots (although...

maybe?), remember: the

sheer access we have to

tech doesn’t make faithful,

doting partners suddenly

want to cheat, explains

James McNulty, a professor

of psychology at Florida

State University, USA, and

co-author of a 2018 study on

the psychological predictors

of infidelity. Tech simply gives

people with wandering eyes

(who are already predisposed

to cheat) the means to do it

faster and more conveniently.

For some, sure, that ease of

entry may be the difference

between straying and not. But

if your partner isn’t likely to

step out on you anyway, new

apps and holographics won’t

change that.

Most people in happy,

healthy relationships aren’t

going to be using new tech

to look at who (or what)

else is out there, agrees

Susan Krauss Whitbourne, a

professor of psychological

and brain sciences at

UMass, Amherst, USA. “It’s

dissatisfaction that drives the

searching” she says.

So, the answer to staying

faithful to each other isn’t side-

eyeing your partner for being

glued to a phone or laptop. It’s

making sure you two have a

solid connection IRL—which

means talking often about

how you’re both feeling and

working to resolve any issues.

How to

Cheat-

Proof

You r

Future

love & lust

“A guy sent me a

Facebook message saying my

boyfriend was texting his girlfriend—

he had seen their convo in iMessage

while using her computer. At first, I

didn’t believe him because it was just

so out of character for my BF...but then

I thought I should meet this guy and

read the messages for myself. When

I saw that it was, in fact, true, I called

my boyfriend and ended things

immediately.”

—SUNAIYNA R., 28

“My ex would try

to hide his phone from

me and turn it off completely

when he went out so I couldn’t

reach him, which was already

suspect. Then, one day, while I was

using his iPad, a text popped up

from his ex-girlfriend. I read their

convo, and he had been asking her

for nudes! I dodged a bullet by

dumping him.”

—LARISSA K., 31

“I went away for the

weekend and had been

gone for only six hours when

my boyfriend stopped answering

my texts. I used Find My Friends

to see where he was and found

that he was with one of my best

friends. Turns out, they were

having sex at her house.”

—PALLAVI S., 25